Davidson COVID-19: 103 Cases, Concern For Area Hospitals

DAVIDSON, NC — The spread of novel coronavirus throughout North Carolina is starting to put the squeeze on hospital resources, particularly in the Charlotte metro region, state officials said Thursday.

"Our trends are not where we want them to be right now. It's good that we still have hospital and [intensive care unit] bed capacity, but we’re watching closely and paying particular attention to hospitals in the Charlotte area," Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Thursday. "Just take a look at some states where an uptick in cases quickly caused hospitals to fill up. We do not want that to happen here."

On Thursday, North Carolina reported 2,039 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,034 patients hospitalized for treatment, 40 more than reported Wednesday and a record for the state.

The number of known COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County rose to 13,757, an increase of 268 cases reported since Wednesday.

In Davidson, there were 103 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths reported Thursday.

SEE ALSO: NC COVID-19 Confirmations Spike, Record Day Of Hospitalizations

As of July 5 — the most recent date of available county-level data — Mecklenburg County averaged around 165 hospitalizations at area hospitals, which represented an increase over a two-week period, according to Mecklenburg County Public Health.

Hospitalizations, however, are a lagging indicator of COVID-19 spread, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said Thursday. "The people who are going to the hospital today are those who were infected days or weeks ago," she said.

"We are particularly concerned about the Charlotte area and their hospital capacity," Cohen said, adding that DHHS is in regular contact will all Charlotte area hospitals. "They're doing a great job in handling the higher number of cases they're seeing and are being thoughtful about planning for more. At this point, there's not a need for further intervention but we will continue to reassess this decision," she said.

"We don't want to be in a situation where we're nearing ICU capacity, and we want to avoid a situation where hospitals are forced to postpone procedures or surgeries or other essential non-COVID care," she said.

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North Carolina's overall percent positive rate averages between eight and 10 percent, however, the rate of spread of COVID-19 is slightly higher in the Charlotte metro region. Nearly 12 percent of all COVID-19 tests in Mecklenburg County are positive, according to county health officials.

"We have seen these other states where you see elevated percent positives, hospital beds fill up and it can jump on you quickly," Cooper said.

"We want to get our percent positive down," he said, adding, "but the work that we've done has prevented North Carolina from getting into the 20 percent or more in some of these other states."

South Carolina, for example, reported Thursday that 20.6 percent of those tested for COVID-19 were confirmed to have the virus.

"We know that face coverings are a key to this," Cooper said. "What we need even more than enforcement here is for leaders across this state — political leaders, celebrities, sports figures, business leaders — to step up and wear the face covering," and to talk about it, he said.

SEE ALSO:

• Mecklenburg Commissioners Approve Stricter Mask Mandate
  
• No Doctor's Referral Needed Now For COVID-19 Testing In NC
• No Decision On School Openings As NC Sees Record COVID-19 Jump